A Real Deal Christmas
by SamFanFirst
Summary: Everyone deserves at least one "real" Christmas experience. Emma is making sure that Henry gets that, but he's not the only one in need of a traditional Christmas. Read and see! Rated T out of precaution due to mild language.


**A/N: I love writing this stuff. Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting, and subscribing to my other stories. You all are fantastic! I hope you all are enjoying the road to the holidays and I hope this boosts your holiday spirit. Please let me know what you think of the story. It is going to be a multi-chapter this time. Enjoy!**

**I don't own Once Upon a Time or these characters.**

Emma had been pouring over sales ads for the past hour and a half. The weekly sales ads had just been released by all of the local stores and they were beginning to showcase all of their Christmas items and specials. As usual, there wasn't much going on at the police station and she wasn't in the mood to go through another stack of parking permits.

Graham had finished his patrol rounds about 15 minutes ago and had been glancing periodically at Emma whose desk was littered with papers. "I certainly hope that's today's paperwork."

"There are more important things in life than who gets to park where, sheriff." Just like she wasn't in the mood for permits, she also wasn't in the mood to listen to Graham make a big deal out of a meaningless issue.

"Not when you're the deputy of the town, Miss Swan."

"Emma. It's Emma." It was bad enough that the mayor insisted on never referring to the new deputy by her first name.

Graham smirked. He knew that it irritated her, so that only intensified his amusement. "Well, _Deputy Swan_, would you care to tell me what could _possibly _be more important than delegating parking spaces to the residents of this good town?"

Emma was now out of her seat and making her way around the desk to lean on the front of it. "I'm just trying to get a head start on a little Christmas shopping." There was a little more to it than that, but she wasn't about to spill her guts to a cocky cop in front of a hungover Leroy and a frustrated Marco who had both spent the better part of their day arguing with each other.

Just the thought of a former "rough-around-the-edges" bounty hunter shopping for a Frosty the Snowman made the sheriff chuckle. "You? You and Christmas shopping? I never expected to see that combination."

"There's a lot that you don't know about me. One of those things is that I have a tendency to surprise people, so you shouldn't ever assume anything about me. Another little thing that you may or may not have noticed is that I now have a roommate that has been very kind to me. I'd like to get a little something for Mary Margaret as a token of my appreciation."

Graham would have bought it had not been for one tiny misplaced detail. "So you're planning on shopping for a grown woman at the local Toys R' Us?"

Damn that nosy bastard! Emma's eyes widened as she quickly hopped off of the edge of her desk and tried to gather all of the ads and notes that she made. "It's really none of your business where I go or what I get. That paper must have been mixed in with all of the other ads." The hostile privacy wall was now up and fully functioning.

Sheriff Graham strutted over towards her and picked up a sheet that had fallen off the desk during her frantic scramble and proceeded to read the list aloud. "Crayola Glow Dome, 'Up' the movie, SpongeBob slippers (ask Mary Margaret about size), Legos, Connect Four…if I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a list made for a certain 10-year-old little boy."

"So what if it is for Henry? He's a kid. Kids love toys and writing letters to Santa Claus and all of that happy stuff." What was so wrong with a mother wanting to make sure her son had a great Christmas?

The mayor is what was wrong.

Graham tried to think of the best way to explain this. "Henry doesn't really participate in all of that. Madame mayor usually maintains her regular schedule all throughout the Christmas season and on Christmas day. However, she does take Henry to be fitted for clothes and shoes that she picks out for him once holiday finally arrives. That's usually as far as the 'Christmas spirit' goes for the two of them."

Emma thought she knew what true hatred had felt like before she arrived in Storybrooke. Regina made her realize that she knew _nothing _about hating someone. Emma had _never _felt so much hatred towards a person before. No letters or sitting on Santa's lap in a store? No Christmas music while decorating a big tree? No tree? She had never had a "real Christmas" when she was growing up, but she wanted her son to have the full experience that she never got.

"Well, that's all going to change. Henry's getting the real deal this year. I'm making sure of it." Somehow, Emma had the feeling that Henry would find a way to make this Christmas her best one yet. Hell, just having him and Mary Margaret around in her life made this year the best for her.

**A/N2: I tried to add Graham in this story since he was mentioned in a review or two. The next chapter will either be MM/Emma, MM/David, or MM/Emma/Henry/possibly David. I'm not sure of how I'm going to structure this just quite yet, so please hang tight. I'm going to try and update ASAP. Have a good one everybody!**

**~MB (stands for my name - Mary Beth) **


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